Five years into Mr. Bush's war and long after the declaration of "mission accomplished," the U.S. death toll in Iraq has reached 4,000. More than 97 percent of these losses occurred after that declaration. Though the administration continues to ban images of coffins coming home, The New York Times and Huffington Post provide us with the faces of the dead. (Think Progress, New York Times, Huffington Post)

"Curveball," the Iraqi defector whose stories - many of which turned out to be false - were used by the U.S. to make the case for invading Iraq, told Der Spiegel recently that "he is not to blame for the war and that he never said Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction." Curveball's accounts of Iraq's weapons program were used by then Secretary of State Collin Powell in his speech to the United Nations in February 2003. (ABC)

The recent revelations that employees of private companies with government contracts improperly accessed the passport files of both Barack Obama and John McCain is adding to concerns that the federal government is relying too much on private contractors to carry out its work. The questions follow recent controversies over the use of private military contractors, such as Blackwater, in Iraq. (AP)

Jerry Hurckes, chief of staff for Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.), has used his position and access to federal funds as a congressional aide to further his own standing as a member of the Oak Lawn Board of Trustees, an elected position he has held since 1999. He has claimed in mailers to voters that he, as a longtime house staffer, was "responsible for helping secure over $4 million for the Village of Oak Lawn ..." among other achievements. House ethics rules do not allow staffers who hold an office to allocate federal resources to their own constituencies. (Roll Call)

New York's new governor David Paterson has fully embraced the confessional culture. Last week he owned up to extra-marital affairs at Days Inn in Manhattan and yesterday he admitted using cocaine in his 20s and smoking marijuana when he was younger. Paterson asserted that "more Americans have tried a lot more during that period of time and gone on to lead responsible lives." (AP)

President Bush believes that two Americans being held by international forces in Iraq, Mohammad Munaf and Shawqi Omar, can be transferred to Iraqi custody because U.S. courts are powerless to intervene. Omar is accused of serving as a senior associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi while Omar is accused of harboring an Iraqi insurgent and four Jordanian fighters. (AP)

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) has proposed new legislation to eliminate vote caging - a practice that allows one to challenge the eligibility of an entire class of voters through the assertion of blanket claims about the "supposed ineligibility" of those voters. Whitehouse is especially concerned about how caging may impact young voters. (Politico)

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has missed more roll-call votes since January 2007 than other senator except Tim Johnson (D-SD). McCain has been running for president. Johnson has been recovering from a brain hemorrhage. But McCain's record of missing more than half of the roll-call votes pales in comparison to John Kerry's (D-MA) mark of a 72% absentee rate when he was running for president. (New York Times' "The Caucus")

Sidney Blumenthal, a journalist, former White House adviser to President Clinton, and senior adviser to Hillary Clinton will plead guilty to drunk driving. Blumenthal, who was arrested in N.H. the day before the primary when he was driving 70 mph in a 30 mph zone, might have faced more serious charges but the arresting officer has been shipped off to Iraq and is unavailable to testify at a trial. (AP)